


OL1NESS 




m M MM* 

Class _ L&^ 
Book U-G 



Copyright^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



HOLINESS 



BISHOP J. S. MILLS, D.D., LL.D. 

A Bishop of the 
Church of the United Brethren in Christ 




» :) o u 



Dayton, Ohio 

United Brethren Publishing House 

1902 






TH¥ tl«RA«Y OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Cores Received 

SEP. 4 1902J 

COP/RIGHT ENTRY 

CL.ASS #>XXo No. 
COPY B. 



Copyright 1902, by W. H. Funk, Agent 
All rights reserved 



• ► * • * * * * 

• • • *«• • ■ 



PREFACE. 



3 



For some years past there has been an earnest 
movement in different parts of the church in 
quest of a complete Christian life. The object 
sought bears a variety of names, as Deeper Chris- 
tian Life, Higher Christian Life, The Life More 
Abundant, Sanctification, Holiness, Perfect Love, 
Christian Perfection, Filled with the Holy Spirit, 
and other terms. Similar movements have existed 
in the past, and have always been symptoms of 
increasing spiritual health and growth in the 
persons thus interested. To stimulate this move- 
ment among us, and to guide into the truth relat- 
ing to it, and, as a minor consideration, to save 
from error misguided souls, are the aims of this 
essay. 

In the English Bible there are two families of 
words — the one of Latin, the other of Saxon 
origin — to represent the same thought: saint, 



Holiness 

sanctify, sanctification ; holy, hallowed, holiness. 
In both Testaments the words mean the same, and 
may be exchanged without error. A saint is a 
holy person. To sanctify is to make holy. Sane- 
tification is a state of holiness. 

The writer is not aware that anything here pre- 
sented is novel, or contrary to the doctrines of 
our Church. 



*▼ 



CONTENTS. 



Preface, iii 

I. Holiness of God, Angels, and Heaven, 7 

II. External, or Ceremonial Holiness, - 18 

III. Personal Holiness, ----- 22 

IV. Holiness and Temperament, - - 46 
V. Wesley on Christian Perfection, - 60 

VI. A Method Suggested, - 64 



HOLINESS. 



I. Holiness of God, Angels, and Heaven. 

1. In Exodus 15 : 11, is found the first an- 
nouncement of God's holiness. After the escape 
from bondage and the overthrow of the Egyptians 
and the safe crossing of the Eed Sea by the Israel- 
ites, the people led by Moses sang this song of 
triumph : 

"Who is like unto thee, Lord, among the gods ? 
Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, 
Fearful in praises, doing wonders ? 
Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, 
The earth swallowed them. 
Thou in thy mercy hast led the people which 

thou has redeemed : 
Thou hast guided them in thy strength to thy 

holy habitation." 

Jehovah is "glorious in holiness," "a man of 
war." He stretches forth his right hand to smite 



Holiness 

down his enemies and to lead his people into 
his holy habitation. 

In Leviticus this expression occurs a number of 
times: "Be ye holy, for I am holy." "Ye shall 
therefore be holy, for I am holy." "Ye shall be 
holy unto me : for I the Lord am holy, and have 
separated yon from the peoples, that ye should be 
mine." This is God's declaration of his own es- 
sential nature ; his nature or character is holy. 

In a vision Isaiah saw the Lord seated on an 
exalted throne; and he heard the seraphim cry 
one to another, and say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the 
Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his 
glory." The holiness of the Lord was so vividly 
impressed upon Isaiah, that he uses the term, "the 
Holy One," half as many times as there are chap- 
ters in his writings. The Ninety-ninth Psalm is 
an earthly echo of this heavenly chorus: 

"Let them praise thy great and terrible name : 
Holy is he. 

Exalt ye the Lord our God, 
And worship at his footstool : 
Holy is he. 

Exalt ye the Lord our God, 
And worship at his holy hill : 
For the Lord our God is holy." 



Holiness 

What is the meaning of holy, or holiness, as 
applied to God? Of the meaning of the Old 
Testament word, Delitzsch says it is "absolutely 
pure, literally, separated; namely, from impurity, 
imperfection, sin; holiness is His physical and 
preeminently ethical faultlessness or perfection." 
Keil says, "God is called the Holy One because 
he is altogether pure, the clear and spotless Light, 
so that in the idea of the holiness of God there 
are embodied the absolute moral purity and per- 
fection of the divine nature and his unclouded 
glory." Oehler declares that divine holiness may 
be defined concretely "as an absolute perfection of 
life, but essentially in an ethical sense. Many, 
indeed, have gone further, and declare that the 
holiness of God designates the whole divine per- 
fection, majesty, and blessedness, 'the whole com- 
plex of that of which we, in our human imperfec- 
tion and shortsightedness, are wont to look at and 
represent singly in the individual attributes of 
God/ We may say, with Oetinger, 'Holiness is 
hidden glory, and glory, disclosed holiness/ " 

In the Old Testament, the nature of God 
is revealed as holiness ; in the New Testament, the 
divine nature is revealed as love. When our 



Holiness 

knowledge is profound enough, we may be able 
to see that the divine holiness and the divine love 
are identical. "We sum up our results thus : In 
the absolute sense, God alone is holy, and his 
holiness is the ground of the requirement of holi- 
ness in his creatures. Holiness is the attribute of 
God, according to which he wills and does only 
that which is morally good. In other words, it is 
the perfect harmony of his will with his perfect 
ethical nature. But the divine holiness is not to 
be thought of as a mere passive, quiescent state. 
It is an active impulse, a f orthgoing energy. In 
God's holiness, that is, in the expression of his 
perfect ethical nature, his self-revelation is 
grounded. Nay, creation itself, as well as re- 
demption, would be inconceivable apart from the 
divine holiness, the energizing of God's absolutely 
good will. 

"By some theologians holiness and love are 
identified. More commonly, they are sharply dis- 
tinguished, holiness being regarded as the self- 
preservative, or retributive attribute of God, and 
love as his beneficent, self-imparting attribute. 
To discuss this subject here would carry us too 
far. It seems clear, at least from our investiga- 

10 



Holiness 

tion, that holiness and love represent closely kin- 
dred conceptions, and that there is an inner har- 
mony between them. They are the two words 
which best express God's moral perfection, and 
the difference between them seems rather formal 
than real. At any rate, in their application to 
men, they seem to express, better than any other 
words, the highest aim of human life, and the 
most comprehensive obligation of God's perfect 
law" (Stevens). 

2. The God-man, Jesus Christ, in imitation 
of the title of God used so frequently by Isaiah, is 
called the Holy One. The evil spirit possessing 
the man at Capernaum, in the presence of Jesus, 
cried, saying, "I know thee who thou art, the Holy 
One of God." Peter calls him by the same title, 
saying : "Thou hast the words of eternal life. 
And we have believed and know that thou art the 
Holy One of God." In his great address on the 
day of Pentecost, again Peter calls Christ the 
Holy One, quoting the psalmist's statement, 
"Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see 
corruption." This prophecy, Peter says, refers 
to the resurrection of Christ. Again, the same 
speaker told the Jews that they had "denied the 

11 



Holiness 

Holy and Bighteous One, . . . and killed 
the Prince of life." John, also, uses this name of 
Christ, saying, "Ye have an anointing from the 
Holy One." In the letter to the Hebrews, there 
is given a description of Christ in terms of holi- 
ness: "For snch a high priest became us, holy, 
guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and 
higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily, 
like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first 
for his own sins, and then for the sins of the peo- 
ple : for this he did once for all, when he offered 
up himself. For the law appointeth men high 
priests, having infirmity; but the word of the 
oath, which was after the law, appointeth a Son, 
perfected for evermore." 

Voluntarily submitting to all the laws and limi- 
tations of human nature, the God-man, neverthe- 
less, from the beginning to the end of his earthly 
manifestation, preserved himself absolutely pure 
and free from all sin. His own consciousness, ut- 
tered on different occasions, bore witness to this 
purity. He, the meek One, and lowly of heart, as- 
sures us that no one can convince him of sin; 
that he always does those things that are pleasing 
to the Father ; that he has glorified the Father on 

12 



Holiness 

earth, and finished the work which the Father 
gave him to do. This self -witness is supported by 
his enemies, who, however gladly they would do 
so, were not able to adduce the least thing against 
him. Pilate, Herod, and Judas confess his inno- 
cence, and condemn themselves. Even the mur- 
derer at his side and the centurion at the cross 
receive a deep impression of his moral greatness. 
And further, all his first witnesses, who carefully 
observed him, and were enlightened by the Holy 
Spirit, agree in the confession of his perfect sin- 
lessness. But above all other testimony is the 
witness of the Father to the holiness and perfec- 
tion of his Son, saying, "This is my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased." The voice of ap- 
proval from heaven was heard thrice — at the end 
of his life of sechieion, in the midst of his public 
career, and at the beginning of his sufferings. 
The signs which were wrought at his death and 
his resurrection, and, above these, the resurrection 
itself, were the seal of divine approval impressed 
upon his person and his work, for by these was 
Jesus Christ, though born of the seed of David, 
according to the flesh, yet "declared to be the Son 



13 



Holiness 

of God with power according to the spirit of holi- 
ness, by the resurrection of the dead." 

3. The Spirit of God throughout the New Tes- 
tament is called the Holy Spirit, in intimation of 
his mission from the Holy Father and the Holy 
Son, to make holy the earth and its inhabitants. 
He is the executor of the Godhead, the one who 
administers the plan of salvation to make holy all 
who believe in Jesus, and thus save them from 
their sins. The Spirit of God is called holy, ap- 
parently because he has for his crowning office, in 
addition to his function as immanent deity, the 
reorganization of the nature of sinful man, fitting 
him to come into redemptive fellowship with 
Jesus Christ, the Son, and maintaining in man 
that susceptibility to the elevating influence of 
this fellowship which shall secure his full con- 
formity to the image of Christ. The work of sal- 
vation is carried on within the realm of our spir- 
itual life, and is therefore a spiritual operation, 
an operation of spirit upon spirit. Hence, Christ 
carries on this work by his Spirit — the Holy 
Spirit. As Christ fulfilled the will and work of 
the Father upon earth, so does the Holy Spirit 
administer the will and work of Christ in the hu- 



14 



Holiness 

man soul. What Christ effected in the world of 
history, the Spirit inwardly appropriates and 
brings into the inner world of the human spirit. 
The blessings of redemption, the new life of grace 
brought near by Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit 
conveys into the souls of men, and enables them 
to appropriate. Hence, he forms the bond of com- 
munion which unites the souls of men with God 
and Christ, and binds our hearts in faith and love 
to our Eedeemer. For communion with Christ 
does not consist in externals, but is an inward re- 
lation. It is not forms and formulas, nor certain 
practices and external ordinances, which make us 
Christians, but the Spirit of Jesus Christ dwell- 
ing in our hearts and ruling in our thoughts and 
desires. All that is true for us in Christ Jesus is 
made real in us by the Holy Spirit. 

4. The angels in heaven are holy beings. The 
Saviour calls them holy, "For whosoever shall be 
ashamed of me and of my words in this adulter- 
ous and sinful generation, the Son of man shall 
also be ashamed of him, when he cometh in the 
glory of his Father with the holy angels." The 
messengers whom Cornelius sent to Peter speak 
of them as holy: "Cornelius . . . was 

15 



Holiness 

warned of God by a holy angel to send for thee 
into his house, and to hear words from thee." 
John, also, uses the expression, "In the presence 
of the holy angels." They are called, in Job, 
"sons of God," in God's description of creation: 

"When the morning stars sang together, 
And all the sons of God shouted for joy." 

In this same book they are called holy ones : "And 
to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn ?" Again, 

"Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones ; 
Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight." 

The psalmist also calls the angels "sons of God" 
and 'Tioly ones." From the services they render 
in the heavenly sanctuary, and from their min- 
istry to the heirs of salvation on earth, their holy 
nature may also be inferred. 

5. Heaven, God's peculiar dwelling-place, is 
also holy. The psalmist sings : 

"Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed ; 
He will answer him from his holy heaven 
With the saving strength of his right hand." 

Through Isaiah God declares: "Thus saith the 
high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose 

16 



Holiness 

name is Holy : I dwell in the high and holy place, 
with him also that is of a contrite and humble 
spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to 
revive the heart of the contrite ones." Eef erring 
to Christ' s entrance into heaven, the letter to the 
Hebrews says, "Christ . . . entered in once 
for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal 
redemption." 

From the foregoing, it is seen that God is a 
holy being, that is, he is perfect in all the attri- 
butes of his nature, and in all his relations. 
"Holiness is a general term for the moral excel- 
lence of God. There is none holy as the Lord ; no 
other being absolutely pure and free from all 
limitations in his moral perfection. Holiness, on 
the one hand, implies entire freedom from moral 
evil ; and, on the other, absolute moral perfection" 
(Hodge). God's servants in heaven are all holy; 
that is, their natures are perfect as angels, and 
their wills gladly and joyously obey the divine 
will. Heaven, as God's special dwelling-place, is 
holy; that is, it is filled with God's glory, made 
ideally perfect and beautiful. Hence, the perfect 
harmony of all heavenly things silently expresses 
the song of the inhabitants of that land, "Holy, 

2 17 



Holiness 

holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, which 
was and which is and which is to come." 



II. External or Ceremonial Holiness. 

The law of progress has been followed in the 
revelation of the doctrines of the Bible. "That is 
not first which is spiritual, but that which is nat- 
ural; then that which is spiritual." After thou- 
sands of years of God's training, the human mind 
is still dull in its relation to spiritual truth; but 
it was much more obtuse in the days of Moses. 
The long series of object-lessons, and instruction, 
line upon line, and precept upon precept, were 
necessary to meet the unspiritual state of the 
minds of the people. Moses must be interpreted 
in the light of the letter to the Hebrews. The 
revelation of holiness is subject to this law of 
progress. 

1. The external holiness of things consists in 
God's definite claim of ownership of the object, 
or in some other definite relation to him. Near 
the burning bush, Moses was told to put off his 
shoes, for the place where he stood was holy 
ground; that is, it was the place where God was 



18 



Holiness 

then manifesting himself. The Sabbath day is 
holy, because it is God's share of man's time, 
God's day. The tabernacle and its furniture were 
holy, or most holy, because God specially dwelt 
in this tent among his people ; it was for his spe- 
cial service, and both this fact and his presence 
in it made it holy. The oil used in the tabernacle, 
and the clothes of the priests were holy, because 
used for religious or sacred purposes. Many other 
things were pronounced holy because of the re- 
ligious use made of them. 

In a similar manner, a distinction was made by 
Moses between the clean and the unclean animals, 
and food and clothes and dwelling-houses. Also, 
a distinction was made between the perfect and 
the imperfect, especially in the offerings made to 
God. The animal offered in sacrifice must be per- 
fect, the best of its kind; the anointing oil and 
the incense used in the tabernacle must be the 
most precious kinds known ; the garments for the 
priestly service, and the material for the making 
of the tabernacle and all its furnishing, must be 
only of the very best. Jerusalem was a holy city, 
because the holy temple, in which God manifested 
his presence, was in it. Even the mountains upon 

19 



Holiness 

which the city was built were holy, for the sanio 
reason. 

2. The external holiness of persons is the- 
claim of God for their special service, attended by 
some ceremony of purification recognizing this 
claim. The firstborn was holy, because God 
claimed it. "Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, 
. . . among the children of Israel, both man 
and beast: it is mine." This claim is expressly 
based upon the Passover. The firstborn, exempt 
from destruction, became, in a special sense, the 
exclusive property of the Lord: the firstborn of 
men as ministers, the firstborn of cattle as vic- 
tims. In place of the firstborn of men, the Levites 
were afterward chosen. Aaron and his sons were 
holy, because God chose them to minister before 
him as priests. God said: "And the tent shall. 
be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify 
the tent of meeting, and the altar: Aaron also and 
his sons will I sanctify." In other places, Moses 
tells us how Aaron and his sons were sanctified — 
they bathed in water, were anointed with holy oil, 
were clothed in the holy garments and emblems 
of office. Thus were they made externally holy. 
The Hebrew nation was a holy people, because the 

20 



Holiness 

Lord chose them to be a "peculiar people unto 
himself, above all peoples that are upon the face 
of the earth." They responded to this choice of 
God, by the rite of circumcision and by other cere- 
monies. 

By these object-lessons, associated with the com- 
mandments of God, the people were trained into 
the habit of making a distinction between the per- 
fect and the imperfect, the clean or pure and the 
unclean or impure, the holy and the unholy. A 
vocabulary was also formed by which to express 
these distinctions, which was finally applied to 
personal character and life. 

In reading the Psalms and the prophets, we 
frequently catch sight of a deeper meaning of per- 
sonal holiness than that which we have called ex- 
ternal — a holiness of heart and conduct. The 
great lesson would seem lost, if some had not en- 
tered into an experience of this profounder mean- 
ing, for the sake of which the whole ceremonial 
law was instituted. But even in the New Testa- 
ment, all who have separated themselves from the 
world by holy baptism, as a profession of faith in 
Christ, are called saints, holy ones. The term 
occurs more than half a hundred times as the com- 

21 



Holiness 

mon name for the followers of Christ, the mem- 
bers of the Christian church. Next to the namd 
"brethren," saints, or holy ones, is the most fre- 
quent title for a Christian found in the New Tes- 
tament. The least perfect, as well as the most 
perfect, alike were given this title. It is equally 
true to-day that there is a sense in which every 
one who professes the name of Christ is holy; 
but this lowest stage of holiness is only the cere- 
monial or external type of the Hebrews of the 
days of Moses, and is not up to God's demands in 
this age. 

III. Personal Holiness. 

Sin, in: its essence, is selfishness. Sin, as an 
act, is a voluntary transgression of a known law. 
The fundamental fact of sin to-day is unbelief in 
Jesus Christ. The Word of God, the history of 
our race, and our individual experience testify 
that, both in its essence and in its practice, sin is 
as wide- as the human race, and present wherever 
man is found on earth. "For there is no distinc- 
tion; for all have sinned, and fall short of the 
glory of God." 

Now, God's remedy for sin is Jesus Christ. 

22 



Holiness 

"Being justified freely by his grace through the 
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God 
set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, by 
his blood, to shew his righteousness, because of 
the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the 
forbearance of God; for the shewing, I say, of 
his righteousness at this present season: that he 
might himself be just, and the justifier of him 
that hath faith in Jesus." In the court of heaven, 
because of the merit of Jesus Christ, the penitent 
believer's faith is reckoned for righteousness, and 
his sins are forgiven. This is what is meant by 
justification; but at the time this legal transac- 
tion takes place for us, there is wrought a work in 
us, by which we pass from death unto life — the 
new birth is effected, we are born from above, born 
of God, born of the Spirit, for that which is born 
of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the 
Spirit is spirit. This change wrought in us is 
regeneration. Justification changes our standing 
before God; regeneration changes our moral na- 
ture, and plants the seed of a new life in us. It 
is the beginning of a divine life in us. It is also 
the commencement of our freedom from sin. Be- 
cause it is the beginning of a divine life of 

23 



Holiness 

purity and love in us, it is the beginning of holi- 
ness in us. Whatever work of grace is wrought in 
us afterward, it must be the carrying on of this 
good work which regeneration begins in us, even 
unto the perfect day. '^Regeneration is holiness 
begun; holiness is regeneration completed." 

Without minimizing the beginning of this new 
life, for it is the germ from which the most per- 
fect life comes forth, it is the babe in Christ' 
which finally comes to the stature of a perfect 
man in him; yet it is the conviction of almost 
every Christian that something more is needed 
to meet the demands of God and the deepest long- 
ings of the heart of man. The completion of our 
nature in Christ is the thing signified by all the 
types and shadows and commands of the Old Cov- 
enant, and is clearly set forth in the New Cove- 
nant. Whether we hear Jehovah saying, "Be ye 
holy, for I am holy," or hear Jesus saying, "Ye 
therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Fa- 
ther is perfect," or hear the Holy Spirit saying, 
by the mouth of Paul, "If any man have not the 
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his," or, "That ye 
may be filled unto all the fulness of God," or, 
"Ye are complete in him," they but refer to dif- 

24 



Holiness 

ferent sides or modes of expressing the one great 
object for which Jehovah patiently trained the 
Hebrew nation, and for which Jesus lived, served, 
died, arose, ascended, and now sits on the righfi 
hand of the Father, and for which the Holy Spirit 
makes human bodies his temple to-day; that is, 
the holiness of heart and life of God's children. 
This means : 

1. Freedom from sin. 

2. Christ living in our hearts. 

3. Love ruling in our lives. 

1. Freedom from sin. Just what the nature 
of the sin is which remains after our regenera- 
tion, is most difficult to determine. Every re- 
generated person is, in a degree, holy, and is 
called a saint. If he should die, his peace is made 
with God; but his experience is not satisfactory; 
he longs for a more perfect life, and for a pure 
heart. The study of God's Word only deepens 
this desire for more complete purity and deeper 
peace. The use of figures to convey spiritual 
truth is not a perfect method, and always liable 
to be misunderstood, yet we have nothing better. 
Look at the parable of the sower as an illustration 
of this work of grace. The seed was perfect, but 

25 



Holiness 

the soil was not in each ease in a perfect condi- 
tion. This difference in the condition of the soil 
made the difference in the harvest. In the stony- 
ground hearers the rock was too near the surface. 
More soil must be imported, as in one of the New 
York parks, which was made out of a barren bed 
of rocks, by blasting away some, and burying other 
parts beneath many loads of soil. Now it is a 
perfect park of lawn and trees and flowers and 
fountains. God's grace can certainly do as much 
for a naturally unpromising nature in man, and 
bring it, through the seeds of life sown there, into 
a garden of the Lord, causing the desert to bud 
and blossom as the rose. The thorny-ground 
hearers received good seed into ground that was 
good enough, but for the fact that the roots of the 
thorns were still in it, alive, ready to spring up 
and choke out and prevent the growth of the good 
seed. It, therefore, brought no fruit to perfec- 
tion. But cannot grace both cut down the thorn 
bushes and also free the soil from their roots, that 
the good seed may grow to perfection ? The good- 
ground hearers received the good seed into good 
ground, ground freed from all competing ele- 
ments, and, the inference is easy, kept free ; there- 

26 



Holiness 

fore, the harvest is perfect, yielding thirty, sixty, 
and a hundredfold. Eegeneration brings the 
seed of a new life into our hearts, but it does not 
free our natures from all the depraved elements 
of the old life of sin. It cuts down the thorn 
bushes, but requires a sanctifying process to de- 
stroy their roots, and make and keep us free from 
them and from all evil plants and weeds. 

Dispositions and tastes are of the nature of 
habits. Habits often repeated become a second 
nature, stronger even than the first nature. The 
old saying runs, "Sow an act, reap a habit; sow a 
habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a 
destiny." This is the process by which character 
becomes crystallized into permanency, too strong 
for man to break. May not the law of habit ex- 
plain, in part at least, what the tendencies to evil 
are which remain in an unsanctified nature ? An 
old habit, even after its power has been broken, 
and a new opposing habit is begun > tends to recur 
under favorable conditions. The old lines along 
which our evil thoughts, feelings, volitions, and 
actions moved through body and soul, may be the 
bonds from whose slavery we cry, "Who shall de- 
liver me from this bondage?" "But thanks be 

27 



Holiness 

to God, which giveth us the victory." "But now 
being made free from sin, and become servants to 
God, we have your fruit unto sanetification, and 
the end eternal lif e." 

This part of the work of sanctification is a 
negative process, by which the heart is freed or 
cleansed from sin. John says, "If we walk in the 
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship 
one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son 
cleanseth us from all sin." Again, "Whosoever 
abideth in him sinneth not." "Sinneth not"; 
this is, it is not his choice or habit to sin. 
This is reconciled with the other statement of 
John, "If we say that we have no sin, we de- 
ceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us," by 
the fact that imperfections and infirmities of 
body and mind, which we do not choose or ap- 
prove, will cleave to us while we remain on earth. 
For these we are not blameworthy. If freedom 
from sin means to be free from these imperfec- 
tions and infirmities, we shall not find it this side 
of the resurrection; but we understand holiness 
as the cleansing of our hearts from the love of 
sin, from the habit of sin, and from the choice 
of sin. The essence of evil is located in the heart, 

28 



Holiness 

down in the profound depth of our being, clear 
below consciousness. We only realize its presence 
and power when it manifests itself in some way. 
The wise man advises to "keep thy heart with all 
diligence ; for out of it are the issues of life." 
In this deep fountain, the heart, the Saviour lo- 
cated the things which defile a man. While the 
holiness of the Mosaic law began on the outside 
and worked inward, the method of holiness taught 
by Jesus begins on the inside, in the heart, and 
works outward. The well from which we get our 
daily supply of water may have poisonous objects 
at its bottom, without our knowing it, until we 
are infected with a deadly disease. The heart of 
man is so deep it may conceal from our knowl- 
edge the deadly poison of sin, until some favor- 
able occasion calls it into action, and overwhelms 
us with its dire effects. The Saviour's philosophy 
of life is to clean out the well, and keep it clean, 
then the water will be pure, sweet, and healthful. 
Jesus taught, "If a man love me, he will keep 
my word: and my Father will love him, and we 
will come unto him, and make our abode with 
him." Man thus becomes the dwelling-place of, 
God ; his body is God's temple. Now, in the olden 

29 



Holiness 

times, the place in which God dwelt among men 
was called the most holy place, the holy of holies ; 
it was made ceremonially holy by the sprinkling 
of blood before God would make it his dwelling- 
place, and thus sanctify it in fact. How can this 
holy God dwell to-day in a life or heart that loves 
sin ? How can he dwell in this house unless it is 
holy? Surely, the old tabernacle service teaches 
that we must be cleansed, purified, made free from 
all sin. 

In Eomans 6 : 6-11, Paul's great argument for 
freedom from the bondage of sin is set forth: 
"Knowing this, that our old man was crucified 
with him, that the body of sin might be done 
away, that so we should no longer be in bondage 
to sin; for he that hath died is justified from 
sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that 
we shall also live with him. . . . Even so 
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but 
alive unto God in Christ Jesus." Eeckon this to 
be true, and do not think it necessary to live in 
any known sin. The method of this work is 
through the power of God, by union with Christ. 
"He was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth 
through the power of God. For we also are weak 

30 



Holiness 

in him, but we shall live with him through the 
power of God" (II. Cor. 13:4). The "greatness 
of his power to usward who believe" is "according 
to that working of the strength of his might which 
he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from 
the dead, and made him to sit down at his right 
hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, 
and authority, and power, and dominion, and 
every name that is named, not only in this world, 
but in that which is to come." This unmeasured 
power of God, which raised Christ from the dead, 
is to usward, to save us from sin, and to fulfill in 
us the mission of Jesus. He "shall save his peo- 
ple from their sins." Therefore, "make not pro- 
vision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof," 
but mortify your members of sin, putting the "old 
man" to death. 

2. The life of Christ in the heart is begun in 
our regeneration, and is completed in that state 
of holiness in which his will is done in us as it 
is done in heaven. The new life is the life of 
Christ in the soul. Paul tells the Galatians that 
he was again in "travail until Christ be formed 
in" them. And Peter tells us, "He hath granted 
unto us his precious and exceeding great prom- 

31 



Holiness 

ises; that through these ye may become partak- 
ers of the divine nature/' 

William Law says : "Be persuaded fully to be- 
lieve, and firmly to settle in thy mind this cer- 
tain truth, that all our salvation consists in the 
manifestation of the nature, life, and spirit of 
Jesus Christ, in our inward new man. This alone 
is Christian redemption; this alone delivers from 
the guilt and power of sin; this alone redeems, 
renews, and regains the first life of God in the 
soul of man. Everything besides this is self, is 
fiction, is propriety, is own will, and, however col- 
ored, is only thy old man, with all his deeds., 
Enter, therefore, with all thy heart into this truth , 
let thy eye be always upon it, do everything in 
view of it, try everything by the truth of it, love 
nothing but for the sake of it. Wherever thou 
goest, whatever thou doest, at home or abroad, in 
the field or at church, do all in a desire of union 
with Christ, in imitation of his tempers and in- 
clinations, and look upon all as nothing but thai; 
which exercises and increases the spirit and life 
of Christ in thy soul. From morning to night 
keep Jesus in thy heart. Long for nothing, de- 
sire nothing, hope for nothing, but to have all that 

32 



Holiness 

is within thee changed into the spirit and temper 
of the holy Jesus. Let this be thy Christianity, 
thy church, and thy religion. For this new birth 
in Christ thus firmly believed, and continually de- 
sired, will do everything that thou wantest to 
have done in thee; it will dry up all the springs 
of vice, stop all the workings of evil in thy nature ; 
it will bring all that is good into thee; it will 
open all the gospel within thee, and thou wilt 
know what it is to be taught of God. This long- 
ing desire of thy heart to be one with Christ will 
soon put a stop to all the vanity of thy life, and 
nothing will be admitted to enter into thy heart, 
or proceed from it, but what comes from God and 
returns to God; thou wilt soon be, as it were, 
tied and bound in the chains of all holy affections 
and desires, thy mouth will have a watch set upon 
it, thy ears will willingly hear nothing that does 
not tend to God, nor thy eyes be open but to see 
and find occasion of doing good. In a word, when 
this faith has got both thy head and thy heart, it 
will then be with thee, as it was with the mer- 
chant who found a pearl of great price, it will 
make thee glad to sell all that thou hast and buy 
it. To have salvation from Christ is nothing else 

3 33 



Holiness 

but to be made like him; it is to have a Christ 
within us, an inward Saviour, producing a birth 
of his own nature, life, and spirit within us." 

In John's writings, Christ sets forth this divine 
life in man under different figures, saying: "I 
am the bread of life." "He that eateth my flesh 
and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in 
him. As the living Father sent me, and as I live 
because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he 
also shall live because of me." This is explained 
by a statement in his first letter : "God gave unto 
us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He 
that hath the Son hath the life." 

Again, the parable of the vine and branches 
is used to illustrate this mystic union. "I am the 
vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, 
and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for 
apart from me ye can do nothing. If ye abide in 
me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever 
ye will, and it shall be done unto you." The vine 
furnished the branches not only with the prin- 
ciple of life, but with the type of life. No press- 
ure or molding from without is needed to shape 
them to the pattern of the parent stock. Every 
minutest particular of form and color and taste 

34 



Holiness 

and fragrance is determined by the root, and 
evolved from it. A true believer, therefore, will 
ask no better thing of the Lord than that the life 
of Jesus may be made manifest in his body. Out- 
ward imitation, though it be of the perfect Ex- 
ample himself, has little place in the order of spir- 
itual growth ; little place because little possibility. 
"Without me/' that is, apart from me, separate 
from me, "ye can do nothing." To abide in Christ 
is the only secret of Christlikeness. "Christian 
progress is growing towards Christ, by growing 
from him" (Gordon). 

Jesus prayed: "Sanctify them in the truth: 
thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into 
the world, even so sent I them into the world. 
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they 
themselves also may be sanctified in truth. 
Neither for these only do I pray, but for them 
also that believe on me through their word; that 
they may be all one ; even as thou, Father, art in 
me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us. 
. . . I in them, and thou in me, that they may 
be perfected into one." Paul constantly repeats 
his favorite mode of expressing this mystery, 
"Christ in you," or, "Ye in Christ." Christ is 

35 



Holiness 

thus presented as the principle of the life of be- 
lievers, so one with all that is most deeply per- 
sonal in them, that he molds and determines their 
activities, and reproduces in them what is most 
deeply personal to himself. Quickened at the cen- 
ter of their being by the very Spirit of God that 
formed the principle of his personal life, and hav- 
ing Christ thus dwelling in them, believers are 
enabled to live his life over again ; or, rather, they 
are the agents by and in whom he lives over again 
his own life, reincarnating himself, as it were, 
ever anew in the flesh of his people. 

The historic life which Christ lived among men, 
for us, is an allegory of the life he lives in us 
now. The birth, passion, cross, death, resurrec- 
tion, and ascension of Christ, after a spiritual 
manner, must be transacted in us. That historic 
life is our justification; this spiritual life in us 
is our sanctification. Thus our religious experi- 
ence is daily making real in us what is already 
true for us in Christ Jesus. 

Paul announces, "I have been crucified with 
Christ ; yet I live ; and yet no longer I, but Christ 
liveth in me: and that life which I now live in 
the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the 

36 



Holiness 

Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself np 
for me." It was Christ's real life that Paul lived, 
not any longer his own old sinful life. A similar 
communion of life now exists between the glori- 
fied Christ and the Christian believer. "Christ, 
in coming forth from God, has not left God; in 
returning to God, he has not left us." Or, as 
Paul says, again, "He that is joined unto the Lord 
is one spirit." The Christian and the Lord are 
one spirit; and that must necessarily be a holy 
spirit. What Christ has done for us avails noth- 
ing, if he does not really, through faith, live in 
us. He came that we might have life in more 
abundance; but that life is in the Son, and he 
that hath the Son hath this abundant life. If 
Christ be in us, the body is dead because of sin; 
but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 
"If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: 
the old things are passed away; behold, they are 
become new." We are thus "strengthened with 
power through his Spirit in the inward man"; 
and Christ dwells in our heart through faith; and 
being grounded in love, we are "strong to appre- 
hend with all saints what is the breadth and 

length and height and depth, and to know the 

\ 

37 



Holiness 

love of Christ which passeth knowledge," and are 
thus filled with all the fullness of God. 

The feeblest Christians, who are pressing on to 
know the Lord, may say, "He that is in us is 
greater than he that is in the world"; and if 
they abide in him they shall have confidence, and 
not be ashamed before him at his coming. It is 
only by the life of Christ in us that the great 
end of our redemption is attained, even our new 
creation after the image of the divine perfection, 
in righteousness and holiness of truth. Because 
he lives in us, we shall live also, and we shall not 
be left orphans in this world ; and in that day we 
shall know that he is in the Father, and we in 
him, and he in us. "Every one that hath this, 
hope set on him, purifieth himself, even as he ia 
pure." 

3. Love rules in the life of the perfect Chris- 
tian as the highest law known to him. A sum- 
mary of the law, as given by Moses, and reaffirmed 
by the Saviour, is this, "Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy sbul, 
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; 
and thy neighbour as thyself." This can be done" 
only when selfishness is suppressed, or destroyed; 

38 



Holiness 

or, rather, as the love of God is shed abroad in 
our hearts by the Holy Spirit, selfishness goes out, 
banished by the expulsive power of the new affec- 
tion. Love to God, as an emotion, is a mingling 
of joy, gladness, delight, and satisfaction in him, 
and a desire to possess more of him. This emo- 
tional phase of love was the characteristic of many 
of the mediaeval saints; a life of luxurious enjoy- 
ment, which has little strength of character, and 
cannot be regarded as the most valuable element 
in Christian love. Yet it is to be feared that 
this side of religion has often been made so promi- 
nent as to attract only a certain type of mind to 
the life of holiness and love, and to cultivate that 
form of selfishness that seeks to enjoy emotional 
states as an end. 

Contemplative love is delight in the divine per- 
fections, and in all that is pure and right and 
lovely and good in all God's creatures, because all 
these lovable qualities are from God, an overflow 
from the divine heart of love. This is similar to 
love as a mere emotion; but has more of will in 
it, and is nobler, in that it rejoices in the enjoy- 
ment and perfection of others. 

Practical love is the highest type of this ele- 

39 



Holiness 

ment, for it is the life of Him who went about 
doing good embodied in us. It is the spirit of 
Mary, who sat at the Saviour's feet adoringly, 
and joyfully contemplating his gracious words; 
and the spirit of Martha, who was troubled about 
much serving, both merged into one — Mary's rest- 
fulness taking the place of Martha's fretfulness, 
and Martha's spirit of service taking the place of 
Mary's luxurious ease. It is not an earth-born 
spirit, but was inspired by him who first loved 
us. It does not decline the rapturous delight com- 
ing from communion with God ; but it makes this 
emotion a motive to a more loyal and loving serv- 
ice rendered to God and our fellow-men. 

This love is shown in our esteem for God's 
ordinances and means of grace. "For this is the 
love of God that we keep his commandments." 
"He that hath my commandments and keepeth 
them, he it is that loveth me." No one can lightly 
esteem the house of God, the house of prayer, the 
communion of saints, the holy ordinances, or the 
divine Word, in whom the love of God dwells; 
but he earnestly makes all these means of grace 
channels through which the life of God flows into 
his soul. Thus love constantly appropriates more 

40 



Holiness 

and more of the divine life; even- "as the hart 
panteth after the water brooks/' so the soul pant- 
eth after God, ever drinking, never satisfied, life 
ever increasing — all that we may only be better 
servants. 

"Perfect love casteth out fear" in our relation 
to God; but it "hides a multitude of sins/' and 
"is the bond of perfectness" in our relations to 
men. The life of Jesus is its perfect illustra- 
tion, for his whole life was ruled by love. Paul 
teaches us that to possess the mind or spirit of 
Christ is to be a true Christian. "If any man 
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 
Again, "Have this mind in you, which was also 
in Christ Jesus/' This means to love our ene- 
mies, and pray for them that persecute us; then 
we shall be the sons of our Father in heaven, "for 
he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the 
good, and sendeth rain on the just and the un- 
just." Love to our enemy means to choose his 
welfare ; to do him what good we can ; if he hun- 
ger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him to drink, thus 
overcoming evil with good. "Ye therefore shall 
be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." 

Love is sympathetic and tender to all ; it weeps 

41 



Holiness 

with those who weep, and rejoices with those who 
rejoice; in love of the brethren, it is tenderly 
affectioned one to another, in honor preferring 
one another. "Put on therefore, as God's elect, 
holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, 
humility, meekness, longsuff ering ; forbearing one 
another, and forgiving each other, if any man 
have a complaint against any; even as the Lord 
forgave you, so also do ye: and above all these 
things put on love, which is the bond of perfect- 
ness." Love is practical. It bears one another's? 
burdens, and so fulfills the law of Christ. It 
obeys the great rule of the Master, "Whatsoever 
ye would that men should do unto you, even so 
do ye also unto them/' Love sees in every man 
a neighbor and a brother, and acts the good Sa- 
maritan toward him. After the example of Jesu& 
Christ, it seeks not to be served, but to be a serv- 
ant, and give its life a ransom for the many. It 
is Paul's rapturous song of love, clothed with flesh 
and blood, that makes the perfect Christian. 
"Love suff ereth long and is kind ; love envieth 
not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 
doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its 
own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; 

42 



Holiness 

rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth 
with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all 
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 
Love never faileth." 

This is a picture of Jesus, and of his follow- 
ers, in whom love is patience and kindness; the 
absence of envy; the presence of humility; not 
easily provoked; does not impugn motives; 
mourns over iniquity, and rejoices in the truth; 
endures wrong ; believes the best ; where it cannot 
believe, hopes ; where it cannot even hope, suffers ; 
it is imperishable. Prophecies shall be done away, 
tongues shall cease, and knowledge shall fail, but 
love never fails; and in the immortal trio of 
Christian graces, faith, hope, and love, the great- 
est is love. 

Love of this type is no longer a mere delight- 
ful meditation, a rapt contemplation of its ob- 
ject, nor is it merely a highly emotional state of 
enjoyment; but it is an act and quality of will 
more important than any emotional state. It is 
choosing to obey God, and devote the life, moment 
by moment, to his service. It is cheerful obedi- 
ence to God in the family, in the church, in the 
state, in the school, in the social circle, in eco- 

43 



Holiness 

nomic relations, and in international brotherhood. 
In every right relation in this world, in every 
needful employment of life, whether we eat or 
drink, or whatever we do, if it is done in the spirit 
of love, it is to the glory of God, and is the serv- 
ice of a holy life. Out in the field of daily toil 
is where the Christlif e in us bears its golden fruit- 
age. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meek- 
ness, temperance." By such fruit-bearing we 
show forth the life of Christ in our mortal bodies ; 
we are thus tongues and hands and feet for the 
use of our Master. A single generation of this 
type of Christians would transform this whole 
earth, and make it again the garden of the Lord. 
There are enough such now living to show that 
the life of love is not only God's ideal, but man's 
privilege. 

John's view of love is very practical : "Hereby 
know we love, because he laid down his life for 
us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the 
brethren. But whoso hath the world's goods, and 
beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his 
compassion from him, how doth the love of God 
abide in him ?" Again, "God is love ; and he that 

44 



Holiness 

abicleth in love abideth in God, and God abideth 
in him. Herein is love made perfect with us, 
that we may have boldness in the day of judge- 
ment; because as he is, even so are we in this 
world." As men realize the meaning of John's 
doctrine, Christian life will become more cour- 
ageous and heroic in destroying the evils that op- 
press mankind, and in building up the kingdom 
of God upon this earth. God is love, but he is 
a consuming fire, also. This fiery element in 
love is righteousness, the quality of the old He- 
brew prophets, and that which is most needed in 
our religion to-day; a sharing of God's hatred of 
evil and of all imperfection, and delight in holi- 
ness, until "holiness to the Lord" is graven on our 
foreheads, on the bells of the horses, and on every- 
thing a Christian controls. 

He is the most perfect Christian to-day whose 
love for God and man moves him to give himself 
in sacrificial service to rescue men from the evils 
now afflicting our race. It was after this fashion 
that Jesus pictured the judgment scene in 
Matthew 25 : 31-46 : feeding the hungry, clothing 
the naked, visiting the sick, and ministering to 



45 



Holiness 

those in prison — all loving service rendered to 
needy men is holy devotion to Jesus Christ. 

IV. Holiness and Temperament. 

That holiness is attainable in this life is the 
doctrine of the Scriptures. God, the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Spirit, is a holy being; the 
angels are holy; heaven is holy. Now, without 
holiness no one shall see the Lord ; only "the pure 
in heart shall see God." No one, without holi- 
ness, can dwell in heaven, where all is holiness 
and love. Adaptation to environment is the con- 
dition of life. Hence, the command is, "Like as 
he which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also 
holy in all manner of living; because it is writ- 
ten, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy." We learn 
the same fact when we inquire into the object for 
which Christ came to earth: "And you, being in 
time past alienated and enemies in your mind in 
your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled in the 
body of his flesh through death, to present you 
holy and without blemish and unreprovable be- 
fore him." Paul declares it is his aim to "present 
every man perfect in Christ"; and further de- 

46 



Holiness 

clares that believers are complete in Christ. Con- 
cerning the church, the object of Christ is stated 
thus, " Christ also loved the church, and gave him- 
self up for it; that he might sanctify it, having 
cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, 
that he might present the church to himself a 
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or 
any such thing; but that it should be holy and 
without blemish." Again, of the church it is said, 
"Ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy 
nation, a people for God's own possession." As 
John saw the redeemed host in heaven, they are 
described as "they which come out of great tribu- 
lation, and they washed their robes, and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb." This also 
agrees with another statement by the same writer, 
"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we 
have fellowship one with another, and the blood 
of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 

The prayers of Paul for the people of God are 
further evidence that Christian perfection or holi- 
ness is a state attainable in this life. "Now the 
God of peace, who brought again from the dead 
the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of 
the eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make 

47 



Holiness 

you perfect in every good thing to do his will, 
working in us that which is well-pleasing in his 
sight, through Jesus Christ." Again : "The God 
of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may 
your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, 
without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also 
will do it." Therefore, we are "confident of this 
very thing, that he which began a good work in 
you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ." 
That a man's conversion to God will manifest 
itself according to the natural disposition and 
temperament of the man is a matter of common 
observation. The natural man is the mold that 
determines the shape of the new man. As when 
a piece of wood is petrified, turned into stone, the 
stone takes the shape, color, and appearance of 
the wood, so when the man is made holy, the 
former man, even his sinless defects, habits, tastes, 
temperament, determine the peculiarities of the 
manifestation of the new life in holiness. The 
trees in the forest, the flowers in the garden, the 
birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and the beasts 
of the earth, as well as man, are made of an in- 
finite variety. The rose is very beautiful, but it 

48 



Holiness 

is not the type for the lily or the pansy ; the dove 
is lovely, but it is not the type for the swallow or 
the eagle ; the oak is majestic, but it is not the type 
for the hickory or the cedar. This variety is as 
great in human life and experience as in the other 
works of God. No human being should be re- 
garded as a model for all other persons. Neither 
should the religious experience of any one man 
or woman be regarded in all its features as a type 
that all others must be like. Christ is the only 
perfect type; and all the good qualities of the 
whole church, made into one man, are only suffi- 
cient to be the earthly representative of him. 
The endless variety of nationality, culture, tem- 
perament, habit, age, sex, and vocation leads to a 
similar variety in religious experience. Day and 
night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, 
have their counterpart in every sanctified human 
life. 

The church has often esteemed and cultivated 
a saintly type of character that was more feminine 
than masculine. Perhaps this is one reason why 
there are so many more women than men in our 
churches to-day. In this matter of holiness, it is 
often found that some man or woman of this pe- 

4 49 



Holiness 

culiar type of emotion and expression is made an 
example for all others; but God no more sanc- 
tions this among men than among birds or beasts, 
flowers or trees. The difference among the apos- 
tles ought to teach us that God loves variety. The 
thoughtful Thomas, the practical James, the hope- 
ful Peter, the faithful Paul, and the loving John 
were holy men, and each acceptable to the Lord. 

It is an untold and useless agony of soul to 
try to have some other person's experience. It is 
a great loss to the church to hold a theory of holi- 
ness that does not include the man of thoughtful- 
ness as well as the one of emotion; the man of 
will as well as the one of heart. And further, the 
child and the youth should not be expected to lay 
aside the innocent qualities of their age, and as- 
sume the sober face and wise demeanor of the ex- 
perienced man of many years. 

Holiness aims to bring to the best possible for 
him the peculiar qualities of each person. While 
all the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit are in 
the church, as the body of Christ, yet they are dis- 
tributed to each one as the Spirit wills. We have 
yet to learn that God loves the infinite variety of 
taste, talent, and temperament, and that each may 

50 



Holiness 

be holy, perfect of its kind in fellowship with him. 
As the diamond may be perfect in its flashing 
brilliancy, and the rose in its color and fragrance, 
and the lily in its beauty, and the field in its 
harvest, and the orchard in its ripe fruit \ so every 
person must be judged, and must judge himself, 
not by comparison with others, but as an original 
being. If he is free from all known sin, and if 
Christ dwells in his heart by faith, and if love 
rules in his life, he is a holy being, however much 
he may differ from others in talents, gifts, graces, 
culture, knowledge, emotional experience, or phys- 
ical strength. 

The one emotional state that all may attain is 
peace, or heart-rest. The great invitation of the 
Saviour is, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take 
my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am 
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest 
unto your souls." This rest is reached when, 
through the merit of the cross of Christ, minis- 
tered to us by the power of the Holy Spirit, we 
have "crucified the flesh with the passions and the 
lusts thereof." Then our body is subordinate to 
our soul, and our soul is ruled by our spirit, and 

51 



Holiness 

our spirit is controlled by the Holy Spirit. All 
the parts of our nature are then in right relation 
to each other, and the whole man in right relation 
to God. Then the Saviour's precept to have no 
anxiety for food, clothing, shelter, or the evil of 
to-morrow is realized; and PauPs beautiful state- 
ment is found true for us : "In nothing be anx- 
ious ; but in everything by prayer and supplication 
with thanksgiving let your requests be made 
known unto God. And the peace of God, which 
passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts 
and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." "We which 
have believed do enter into that rest," according 
to the legacy of Jesus : "Peace I leave with you ; 
my peace I give unto you : not as the world giveth, 
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, 
neither let it be afraid." As surely as the Master 
stilled the winds and the waves, and calmed the 
troubled waters of the lake, he can command the 
tempest of human passion, and the unrest of the 
human heart, even as in the little child "whom his 
mother comforteth." 

True, this does not mean to release us from 
all suffering, as in some cases suffering is God's 
chosen means to perfect his work of grace in us. 

52 



Holiness 

Paul seemed to so regard suffering, when he 
prayed to know Christ in the "fellowship of his 
sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death"; 
and when he rejoiced in his sufferings for 
the church's sake, and aimed to fill up on his 
part that which was lacking of the afflictions of 
Christ. He taught that if we suffer with Christ, 
we shall also be glorified with him. "Wherefore 
we faint not ; but though our outward man is de- 
caying, yet our inward man is renewed day by 
day. For our light affliction, which is for the 
moment, worketh for us more and more exceed- 
ingly an eternal weight of glory." The letter to 
the Hebrews teaches the same truth, saying : Our 
earthly parents chastened us as seemed good to 
them, but our heavenly Father for our profit, 
"that we may be partakers of his holiness. All 
chastening seemeth for the present to be not joy- 
ous, but grievous : yet afterward it yieldeth peace- 
able fruit unto them that have been exercised 
thereby, even the fruits of righteousness." "These 
are they which come up out of great tribulation." 
Tribulation is this: to be laid down with your 
face to the ground and the harrow dragged over 



53 



Holiness 

your back, as the farmer harrows in the seed, in 
order to secure the harvest. 

Whoever suffers as a righteous man, let him do 
it with the assurance that no soul is in the furnace 
without one by his side like the Son of God, who 
shall bring him out purer than gold; whoever is 
in the flood of great afflictions, let him remember 
the promise, "When thou passest through the wa- 
ters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, 
they shall not overflow thee." 

Is holiness an instantaneous work, or is it a 
growth ? In that element which consists in being 
made free from sin, it may be as instantaneous as 
is the regeneration of the soul; but in every case 
a process leads up to the moment when God, the 
Holy Spirit speaks the word of freedom, and we 
are set free. This is the case with those whose 
progress goes forward by leaps and bounds. With 
others, the progress is slow and gradual. Kegen- 
eration broke the fever, and their sanctification 
is a slow convalescence up to perfect health. It is 
more vital to know that the soul is now in perfect 
health than to know just when we attained it. 

The second part of holiness, the divine life in 
the soul, is subject to the law of growth. "The 

54 



Holiness 

earth beareth fruit of herself ; first the blade, then 
the ear, then the full corn in the ear." The new 
divine life born in us in our regeneration is the 
same life that is perfected in our sanctification. 
As we learn to know ourselves more fully, and 
surrender more of our nature to be possessed by 
the Holy Spirit, our sanctification extends. It is 
a question of the Spirit having more and more of 
us, into which he may come and occupy, as the 
air fills a vacuum. From the condition of the 
babe, we attain "unto a f ullgrown man, unto the 
measure of the stature of the*fulness of Christ." 
The method of God throughout the realm of na- 
ture is to give the seed of life, then grow the plant 
up to its perfection. This seems to be his method 
in the realm of spiritual things, where he fashions 
his most perfect work, made in his own image, 
having the power of an endless life. The possi- 
bilities in the new life are so vast, its usual 
method of reaching its perfection is by a process 
of growth, or addition, throughout the period of 
this earth-life. Peter has a statement to this 
effect: "Whereby he hath granted unto us his 
precious and exceeding great promises; that 
through these ye may become partakers of the di- 

55 



Holiness 

vine nature, having escaped from the corruption 
that is in the world by lust. Yea, and for this 
very cause adding on your part all diligence, in 
your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue 
knowledge; and in your knowledge temperance; 
and in your temperance patience ; and in your pa- 
tience godliness ; and in your godliness love of the 
brethren; and in your love of the brethren love." 
This is a process of adding grace to grace, and 
strength to strength, to which we are to give all 
diligence. 

The third element of holiness, love ruling in 
our lives, it would seem, is also a process of 
growth. The love of God shed abroad in our 
hearts is to be the royal law of liberty in our lives. 
This is Christ's idea of his holy religion : It is to 
make men like God — to think as God thinks, 
that is, to love God with all the mind; to will as 
God wills, that is, to love God with all the heart ; 
to do what God commands, that is, to love God 
with all the strength. The Christ-life in us is 
the new character ; love ruling in our lives is the 
new conduct. The conduct depends on the char- 
acter. Both grow together as life processes* 



56 



Holiness 

When perfected, the character and conduct will 
be Christlike. 

There are two extreme views as to the time 
when God sanctifies the soul: one regards it as 
a "second work" completed in an instant some 
time after regeneration; the other regards it as a 
growth from the time of regeneration down to the 
hour of death. Both have part of the truth. 
Holiness as purity, freedom from all known sin, 
may be wrought in a person by the power of the 
Holy Ghost, any time after his regeneration that 
his knowledge and faith grasp the coveted prize. 
But the other two elements of holiness, the Christ- 
life in us, and love ruling the whole life, seem 
normally to require a process of growth to come 
into the condition of a perfect man in Christ 
Jesus. 

One of the most common fallacies with the "sec- 
ond-work" advocates is the supposed distinction 
between "growing in grace" and "growing into 
grace." Assuming that the grace of holiness is 
entirely different from the grace of regeneration, 
they say that the former can be grown in, but 
never grown into. The best answer to this view 
is given by Bishop Merrill : "Every accession of 

57 



Holiness 

spiritual energy advances the divine life and in- 
dicates in the soul greater conformity to the law* 
of love. In this sense, there is growth in grace 
and into grace, and growth in holiness and into 
higher degrees of holiness. ... A building 
grows as it advances toward completion. A city 
grows as it increases in population. A man grows 
in knowledge as he accumulates information; he 
grows in wealth as he increases his possessions. 
The house grows into a state nearer the ideal of 
its builder. The city grows into greater power 
and greater influence, and the man grows into ad- 
ditional knowledge and into larger wealth. In 
this sense, the Christian who advances in knowl- 
edge, wisdom, and purity, grows into purity as 
well as in purity. The babe in Christ is in Christ, 
and therefore in grace, and if he abide in Christ 
and increase in knowledge and strength, he grows 
in grace and into grace ; and if with his steadfast- 
ness and increase of grace he becomes more and 
more holy, there is not the least impropriety in 
saying that he grows in holiness and into holi- 
ness, into a higher state and degree of holiness. 
Thus it appears that the use intended to be made 
of the distinction between growing 'in' and 'into' 

58 



Holiness 

is a profitless play on words without doctrinal sig- 
nificance, for it cannot be that continued and per- 
sistent growth in holiness will forever fail of 
reaching the standard fixed by the apostle for 
growing believers, 'perfecting holiness in the fear 
of God/ " 

On the other hand, those who deny the possi- 
bility of freedom from sin in this life, have in 
mind more than freedom from all known sin. 
They usually mean to affirm the impossibility of 
escaping from the involuntary imperfections and 
infirmities of human nature in this life. We agree 
with them in this matter; but this is not the 
meaning of sin as used by those who advocate 
freedom from it. "Shall we continue in sin, that 
grace may abound? God forbid. We who died 
to sin, how shall we live any longer therein? 
. . . Let not sin therefore reign in your mor- 
tal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts there- 
of." As soon as we become conscious of any sin 
in us, we may apply to him who "is able to save 
to the uttermost them that draw near unto God 
through him," and be washed and made clean. 

Ought we to profess holiness before men ? Yes, 
on suitable occasions, if we have it. It will be 



Holiness 

safe to do so as often, at least, as the disciples told 
of their glorious vision on the holy mountain, at 
the transfiguration scene; or as often as Paul 
wrote of his third-heaven experience; but it is 
never wise for any one to make his experience in 
holiness the standard by which to measure any 
other Christian. Peter, James, and John, though 
more highly favored, never professed to be better 
than the other apostles. Neither is it wise for 
us to seek just such an experience as we have heard 
some other person narrate. 

This doctrine should not be made one of despair 
to all Christians who have not consciously at- 
tained to such an experience. "The truly re- 
generate are saved, and in the maintenance of a 
truly regenerate life must be finally saved." They 
are now in Christ, the sons of God, and, in a 
degree, holy, for the Word of God calls them 
"holy ones" ; but let them be encouraged to go on 
unto perfection. 

V. Wesley on Christian Perfection. 

Mr. Wesley wrote the following description 
of a perfect life : 

"What is Christian perfection ? 

60 



Holiness 

"The loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, 
and strength. This implies that no wrong temper, 
none contrary to love, remains in the soul; and 
that all the thoughts, words, and actions are gov- 
erned by pure love. 

"Do you affirm that this perfection excludes all 
infirmities, ignorance, and mistakes? 

"I continually affirm quite the contrary, and 
always have done so. 

"But how can every thought, word, and work be 
governed by pure love, and the man be subject at 
the same time to ignorance and mistake ? 

"I see no contradiction here. 'A man may be 
filled with pure love, and still be liable to mis- 
take/ Indeed, I do not expect to be freed from 
actual mistakes till this mortal puts on immor- 
tality. But we may carry this through further 
yet. A mistake in judgment may possibly occa- 
sion a mistake in practice. For instance: Mr. 
De Benty's mistake touching the nature of morti- 
fication, arising from prejudice of education, oc- 
casioned that practical mistake — his wearing an 
iron girdle. And a thousand such instances there 
may be, even in those who are in the highest state 
of grace. Yet where every word and action 

61 



Holiness 

spring from love, such a mistake is not properly 
sin. However, it cannot bear the rigor of God's 
justice, but needs the atoning blood. 

"What was the judgment of all our brethren 
who met at Bristol, in 1758, on this head? 

"It was expressed in these words: 1. Every 
man may mistake as long as he lives. 2. A mis- 
take in opinion may occasion a mistake in prac- 
tice. 3. Every such mistake is a transgression 
of the perfect law. Therefore, 4. Every such 
mistake, were it not for the blood of atonement, 
would expose to eternal damnation. 5. It fol- 
lows that the most perfect have continual need of 
the merits of Christ, even for their actual trans- 
gressions, and may say for themselves, as well as 
for their brethren, 'Forgive us our trespasses/ 
This easily accounts for what might otherwise 
seem to be utterly unaccountable; namely, that 
those who are not offended when we speak of the 
highest degree of love, yet will not hear of living 
without sin. The reason is, they know all men 
are liable to mistake, and that in practice as well 
as in judgment ; but they do not know, or do not 
observe, that this is not sin, if love is the soul- 
principle of action. 



Holiness 

*But still, if they live without sin, does not this 
exclude the necessity of a mediator? At least, 
is it not plain that they stand no longer in need 
of Christ in his priestly office ? 

"Far from it. None feel their need of Christ 
like these. None so entirely depend upon him. 
For Christ does not give life to the soul separate 
from, but in and with himself. Hence, his words 
are equally true of all men, in whatsoever state of 
grace they are, 'As the branch cannot bear fruit of 
itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can 
ye, except ye abide in me: without [or separate 
from] me ye can do nothing/ 1. Not only sin, 
properly so called, (that is, a voluntary transgres- 
sion of a known law,) but sin, improperly so called, 
(that is, an involuntary transgression of a divine 
law, known or unknown,) needs the atoning blood. 
2. I believe there is no such perfection in this 
life as excludes those involuntary transgressions, 
which I apprehend to be naturally consequent on 
the ignorance and mistakes inseparable from mor- 
tality. 3. Therefore, sinless perfection is a 
phrase I never use, lest I should seem to contra- 
dict myself. 4. I believe a person filled with the 
love of God is still liable to these involuntary 

63 



Holiness 

transgressions. 5. Such transgressions you may 
call sin, if you please; I do not for the reasons 
above mentioned." 

In another place, Mr. Wesley wrote : 

"1. By perfection, I mean the humble, gentle, 
patient love of God and our neighbor, ruling our 
tempers, words, and actions. 

"2. As to the manner, I believe this perfec- 
tion is always wrought in the soul by a simple act 
of faith, consequently in an instant; but I be- 
lieve in a gradual work, both preceding and fol- 
lowing that instant. 

"3. As to the time, I believe this instant gener- 
ally is the instant of death, the moment the soul 
leaves the body; but I believe it may be ten, 
twenty, or forty years before. I believe it is 
usually many years after justification; but that 
it may be within five years or five months after it. 
I know no conclusive argument to the contrary." 

VI. A Method Suggested. 

1. A clearly defined aim. 

It is the part of God to fill the regenerate, be- 
lieving soul with the Holy Spirit as the only 
source of purity and love. He is also more will* 

64 



Holiness 

ing to do this than earthly parents are to give 
good gifts to their children. Every believer is 
baptized with the Holy Spirit as the means of his 
regeneration. The multitude which came together 
on the day of Pentecost, after hearing Peter's ser- 
mon, asked what they should do. Peter answered, 
"Kepent ye, and be baptized every one of you in 
the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of 
your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Ghost." There is every reason to believe 
that the three thousand who believed, and were 
baptized that day, were baptized by the Holy 
Ghost. This scene was repeated at Caesarea, in 
the house of the Eoman centurion, Cornelius. 
"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy 
Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. 
And they of the circumcision which believed were 
amazed, as many as came with Peter, because 
that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift 
of the Holy Ghost." These Gentiles were all bap- 
tized with the Holy Ghost as soon as they be- 
lieved. When Paul came to Ephesus, he found 
certain disciples, of whom he inquired, (as the 
Eevised Version reads,) "Did ye receive the Holy 
Ghost when ye believed?" The inquiry, and the 

5 65 



Holiness 

events following, show that Paul regarded the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost as soon as one believes, 
as the normal method of salvation. The other 
parts of the Word of God agree with this inter- 
pretation. 

The filling of the Holy Ghost is for power and 
sanctification. "One baptism, but many fillings." 
The Holy Spirit is in every believer, and fills him, 
as conscious need arises to move the soul to make 
room for him. One of the greatest errors of 
Christians to-day is their lack of faith in the Holy 
Spirit who is in them. A man moved into a new 
home. The owner who preceded him believed that 
the well was without water. The result was, the 
well remained unused, and the family obtained 
water from one of the neighboring wells. But 
the new owner determined to give the well a 
chance, and so had a large quantity of sand 
taken out of it, a new pump put in, and a plat- 
form put down. The result was, an abundance of 
excellent water. If we make room for the Holy 
Spirit, as the means by which we are joined to 
the Lord, he will fill us to the utmost limit of 
our being, working in us to will and to do of God's 
good pleasure. 

LofC. 66 



Holiness 

It is ours to receive (1) purity, or freedom 
from all known sin. The love of sin and the 
habit of sinning are destroyed, and we no longer 
consent to have sin in any degree or form in us. 
The involuntary infirmities of human nature are 
still ours, so that we must "buffet the body, and 
bring it into bondage." Purity is both a gift and 
an acquirement, an attitude and an attainment. 
What we do in purifying ourselves is attributed 
to God; but still our cooperation is necessary 
while he works in us to will and to work for his 
good pleasure. In this, as in every other good 
thing, we are working together with God. We 
may say that all the imperfections are ours; all 
the good in us is of God. 

(2) To progress or grow in that divine nature 
or heredity from the second Adam, which we re- 
ceived in our regeneration. This hidden man of 
the heart is to grow in all the elements of a Christ- 
like character from the condition of a babe up to 
a perfect man. The fruitage of this inner growth 
is to be perfected in a life of loving fellowship 
with, and service for God and man. 

2. The means which all can use for these at- 
tainments are: 



67 



Holiness 

(1) The reading of the Word of God. It is 
able to make wise unto eternal life, through faith 
in the Lord Jesus. The Saviour prayed, "Sanc- 
tify them in the truth : thy word is truth." The 
Word of God hidden in the heart is a mighty 
motive to a holy life. And another value of 
such Bible study is the fellowship we therein have 
with the holy prophets and apostles; but, above 
these, is the fellowship enjoyed with the Saviour 
of us all. 

(2) Meditation on God the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit, and on the great themes of 
salvation. If we would be holy, we must keep 
the holy God and his holy law in our thoughts. 
Paul evidently believed there is a relation between 
the themes on which we meditate and the life we 
live, for he exhorted the Philippians, saying, 
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, 
whatsoever things are honourable, whatsoever 
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, what- 
soever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of 
good report; if there be any virtue, and if there 
be any praise, think on these things." 

(3) Prayer, not only as making request unto 
God, but especially as fellowship with him in lov- 
es 



Holiness 

ing adoration, is taught us in the example of 
Jesus, and in that of all holy men and women of 
all ages. To secure time for prayer and medita- 
tion, Moses was in the wilderness for forty years ; 
Elijah was sent into the same wilderness to re- 
cover his lapsed faith; Jesus was forty days in 
the wilderness, and often in retirement for prayer ; 
John the Baptist spent much of his life in the 
same manner; and Paul, after his conversion and 
call to preach, spent three years in the Arabian 
wilderness, in such spiritual exercises as made the 
gospel to him a personal message and revelation 
from God. 

The examples of these holy men teach the vast 
importance of taking time to be holy. In our 
rushing age, it requires a special effort to find 
time to study the Word of God, to meditate, and 
to pray. The nearest method to the "wilderness" 
for being alone with God is the "morning watch," 
in which those who keep it spend a half -hour each 
morning in reading the Word, in prayer, and in 
meditation. This time taken from the hours of 
slumber or labor is well spent in an exercise which 
creates a right habit and makes holy all the day 
and its duties. It goes without saying, that the 

69 



Holiness 

one seeking to please God will spend the Sab- 
bath day in spiritual exercises. 

(4) But it must never be forgotten that the 
place where Jesus lived and illustrated the power 
of a holy life was in the field of toil. Even the 
transfiguration glory was revealed but once, for 
part of a night. Then, to teach us that there are 
other things more holy in the sight of God, he 
goes down to the place where men toil and suffer, 
and relieves the one oppressed by the devil. To 
live for others, this is the sacrifice and service well 
pleasing to God. This is a surer way to attain 
to the highest life possible on earth, than to flee 
away from the sin and sorrow of the multitude, 
and seek rest in the cave, or cell. 

The one who is living in fellowship with God, 
through his Word and works, by meditation and 
prayer, and who opens wide his nature to the Holy 
Spirit, and, in faith, humbly imitates the sacri- 
ficial life of love of our great Example, — the one 
to whom to live is Christ, — he has the surest 
pledge that he shall finally be in the glorious 
image of his Lord, forever satisfied. There is 
health in such living, and health is happiness — 
more, such health is holiness. 

70 



SEP 4- 1905 



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